Aphrodite Essays (Examples)

Aphrodite and Venus
Aphrodite vs. Venus

In many ways the two goddesses were the same person because they were both said to be beautiful and carried the mantle as goddesses of love and fertility. However, the tradition is much different since both were borrowed from other traditions (Venus came, in part, from the Aphrodite tradition), so were not unique to the pantheons they occupied. The goddesses were both also associated with multiple trysts, often playing the gods and men they had interactions with against each other. The stories of their affairs and lives have become important in myth and in reality as many women identify with the characters of these two. Two pieces, The Odyssey by Homer and The Lusiads by Camoes, are examined herein as classic pieces of literature in which the goddesses served a crucial part in the story.

Aphrodite: The Odyssey

The Iliad and the Odyssey are…

The first is the famous "Bartlett Head," named for Francis Bartlett, who provided the funds for its acquisition by the MFA in 1900. Celebrated in rapturous prose by Henry James within a few years of its first appearance in Boston, it was carved from luminous marble shortly after Praxiteles's Knidos Aphrodite, and remains to this day one of the most admired examples of classical Greek sculpture. The life-size head fuses human beauty with a divine ideal in the 23 century A.D. that is as perfect and enigmatic as Venus de Milo (Bergeron 2). This goddess turns her head down to her lower right, as is indicated by the curve of the neck. This tilt, as well as the softness of the carving on the skin and the heavy lids, impart a certain gentle nature to the goddess, so that connoisseurs have been inclined to interpret her as Aphrodite, the goddess…

Greek Goddess Aphrodite, the mythology of her birth and how she has interfered in the lives of man and woman throughout key mythological events such as the Trojan war and the journey of Odysseus as he traveled home to Ithaca from the battlefields of Troy. Using mythological and historical texts such as esoid's Theogony, and omer's the Illiad and The Oddessey a brief understanding has been gleaned regarding the Greek Goddess: Bibliography cites five sources.
Aphrodite Goddess of Love and meddler in men's hearts

Aphrodite is known by many followers of Greek Mythology as the Goddess of Love, desire and beauty, amongst her normal immortal gifts Aphrodite also has a magical girdle, which compels those whom she desires to desire her.

Aphrodite has been given many names as the Goddess of Love the most famous being Venus, even within the mythos of the tales from omer she is given this…

Statue
The marble statue of Aphrodite, goddess of love, is an impressive example of Roman sculpture from the Imperial era. Although it is Roman, the Greek name of the goddess has been preserved because the artist was directly influenced by the Greek sculptural tradition. However, it is definitively Roman in its appearance based on stylistic similarities with other sculptures contemporary with it. For example, the ornate hair and headdress signify Roman imperial aesthetics. Parts of the sculpture have been damaged; Aphrodite's nose and arms are missing. This almost adds, rather than detracts from, her mysterious beauty. Aphrodite stands in a relaxed pose. She is not so much a goddess as she is a human exemplar of gentle, confident, composed strength. Her sexuality is matter-of-fact. If one word could be used to describe the statue of Aphrodite, it could indeed be the word feminist.

The statue is feminist in the sense…

Aphrodite Biography
Aphrodite was said to have been the most beautiful and sensual of all the goddesses. There are varying stories of her birth. One story holds that she was born from the loins of Uranus, when his sex was severed from him and thrown into the sea: Aphrodite emerged from the sea foam—a daughter of the sea, which is why one of the most famous images of her in artistic expression is of the goddess emerging from the sea (Graves). Homer in the Iliad indicated that Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Regardless of her origin story, Aphrodite served a central role in the back story of Greece, particularly when it came to her feud with Hera and Athena over who was the most beautiful of all.
Aphrodite was said to have married Hephaestus, the god of blacksmithing. She was also said to have had many paramours,…

The poems Catullus wrote to the woman Lesbia are among his best known. How would you characterize their affair?

Catallus describes a conflicted and stormy affair with the women of Lesbia. Sexual tension is evident in his poems, which have a strong erotic content. Therefore, his affairs were passionate and physical.

If the gender roles were reversed and the woman were the narrator, do you think this series of poems would read differently? Explain.

The poems would read differently not because their content would have changed but because they would subvert social norms. As a male, Catallus is allowed, almost expected to write such explicit details about his physical affairs including references to love and hatred. Females would have been more subtle because of the widespread social persecution they might suffer if they admitted to promiscuity or tumultuous romantic interludes especially with married people.

Catullus ends up calling his lady…

Venus in Art
Introduction to Venus and Aphrodite:

Throughout history, Venus has long been a source of inspiration for artists. Her representation of love and beauty has been captured in various mediums, from the visual arts of paintings and sculpture to music and drama; Venus has served as a universal symbol of beauty and has embodied the secrets of love. Central to understanding how artists have been able to use her as such a representation of love and beauty, is understanding Venus and Aphrodite's roles in history and Greek mythology.

Venus is an ancient Italian goddess closely associated with fields and gardens and later identified by the Romans with the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. Although the question as to how Venus came to be identified with so important a deity as Aphrodite remains unanswered, Venus' identification with Aphrodite is certain and because of this is often depicted in art.…

Euripides' tragedy of "Hippolytus":
Phaedra as a plaything of the gods

Euripides' tragedy of "Hippolytus" is a tragedy of paganism, at least on its surface. The work details the conflict between Hippolytus, the noble son of Theseus who honors the goddess of chastity and the hunt Artemis and his new stepmother Phaedra, who honors Aphrodite above all other goddesses. When Phaedra falls in love with Hippolytus he is repulsed not simply because of the incestuous nature of Phaedra's love but because it dishonors the principles of chastity embodied by his excessive worship of Artemis. The conflict between the two goddesses, translated into human terms, ultimately results in death and destruction for both Hippolytus and Artemis and the misery of Theseus, the father of Hippolytus and the husband of Phaedra. However, there is also a higher symbolic order beyond that a personal conflict between the gods that is being violated, one…

Mythic Constructions of Masculinity and Feminity:
A Jungian Analysis

A myth is a story that spreads out a psychological blueprint for a certain kind of human experience. The story of Parsifal and his search for the Holy Grail is a myth about what is required for a boy to reach a complete sense of manhood; the myth of Eros and Psyche shows what a girl must do to become a fully self-actualized woman. Robert A. Johnson, author of He: Understanding Masculine Psychology and She: Understanding Feminine Psychology, points out that basic human needs and motivations "have remained stable over the years" (He, p. ix). ecause human nature does not change, we can learn about human behavior from ancient stories. A myth can be seen as society's collective dream. Analysis of a myth is like analyzing a dream in which all the characters represent parts of the self. In this paper…

Greek Sculpture
A Timeline of Greek Sculpture

Polykleitos, Doryphoros (early fourth century BC)

As Paul Johnson (2003) records, this ancient example of Greek classicalism "epitomizes a canon of male beauty embodied in mathematical proportions" (p. 63). Showing the perfection of contraposto, Doryphoros (or the spear-carrier) is a balanced representation of the body's muscles. Polykleitos, a contemporary of Phidias, had his own school of young artists, which carried on into the third century BC. Polykleitos' works are treated on in his own treatise, called "The Canon," which gave explicit attention to symmetry, clarity, and wholeness. The Spear-carrier is one of the best examples of Polykleitos' teaching -- however, this example is a copy of his original, and is held in Naples -- a fitting representation of the art of Greek sculpting.

Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos (mid-fourth century BC)

Praxiteles actually made two statues for Kos -- so the legend goes. One…

Greek Project 1272
ART204 Formal Research Project Summer Term 2012

Ancient Greek sculpture is one of the most famous historical forms of art. Three main forms of life are represented by this sculpture; war, mythology, and rulers of the land of ancient Greece. The main aim of the paper is to revisit the history of the art of sculpturing in ancient Greece and different steps of its development within different time periods. Some of the main developments in Greek sculpture included depiction of changes in forms, depiction of female and male figures, degrees of present realism, and how sculpturing was used to achieve these effects.

Developments in Greek Sculpturing techniques

There are four main periods in which main developments and changes in the Greek sculpturing took place. The first period is referred to as the geometric period; second period is the archaic period, the third one being the classic and…

art from three different cultures. Specifically it will discuss pieces from the Classical Greek, Indian Civilizations, and Egyptian Civilizations, including the meaning of the work and an art analysis of the work. Each of these different cultures produced very different works of art that were meant to entertain, enlighten, and be viewed for enjoyment. They used different techniques, but there were commonalities, as well. They represent some of the best and most beautiful artwork the world has ever seen.
The Classic Greek work of art I have chosen is the marble sculpture the Venus of Arles, which now resides in the Musee du Louvre in Paris. It is made of Hymettus marble and is thought to be as old as the third century BC. It is thought that the Venus was created by the sculptor Praxiteles, in an attempt to recapture his sculpting career. It is often called the Aphrodite…

Also, this carving is quite sentimental in appearance, for it reflects "the solemn pathos of the Greek citizen, much like some of the sculptures found on the pediment of the Parthenon" (Seyffert, 245).
Our last artifact is titled Pair of Armbands with Triton and Tritoness Holding Erotes, made in the Hellenistic period, circa 200 .C.E. These jewelry objects were apparently designed for a woman of high Greek culture, for they are made from solid gold and are fashioned in the shape of two loosely-coiled snakes or serpents. Whomever designed these intricate and beautiful objects realized the special properties of gold, for the woman lucky enough to wear these could easily slip her arms through the loops, due to the malleability of solid gold. The two figures located at the tops of each piece are representations of Triton and Tritoness, most closely associated with the Greek god of the sea Poseidon.…

Love Got to Do With it: A Critical Analysis of Hippolytus and Lysistrata.
If one reads Hippolytus and Lysistrata, one may immediately conclude that love has 'nothing' to do with anything. Many Greek plays discuss the subject of love in obtuse ways. Love is often the driving force of Greek tragedies, thought to inspire, incite and even enrage in many cases. While love is an important concept and theme, it is not always presented in a positive light in many plays. This is certainly the case in Hippolytus and Lysistrata, which at best suggest that love is unnecessary or tragic.

Hippolytus written by Euripides does so remarkably well, suggesting that love is something that can not only be manipulated by the Gods, but also something that is less tangible in some cases than passion and lust.

Lysistrata, written by Aristophanes, puts sex and power on a pedestal above love suggesting…

artwork entitled "The Judgment of Paris," by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Specifically, it will briefly describe the subject of the work, and analyze the work in regard to its expressive content. What statement do you think the artist wanted to make? What techniques did the artist use to make this statement? Discuss the composition; the treatment of figures; the use of color, light/shade; scale; the treatment of space; the handling of paint; the organization of space. "The Judgment of Paris" depicts a famous mythological scene with great attention to detail and reality. Cranach's work expresses the myths of old set in his current time of the 15th and 16th centuries. His ability to combine ancient stories with modern settings might have been incongruous, but instead, his paintings are stimulating examples that blend elements to created a coherent and charming whole.
THE JUDGMENT OF PAIS

Lucas Cranach the Elder was a…

Is it a sign of inconsistency in Athena that at the end of the Odyssey she echoes the sentiment of Zeus and sues for peace whereas in Book 4 of the Iliad she is all too eager to ignore the sentiment of her father and manipulate the warriors into shedding more blood? Again -- not necessarily. hile, were it up to Zeus he would gladly see men work out their problems in a peaceful way, and, if he can help it, only sends strife and war when men need to be punished. The relationship between war and peace is complicated by the fact that he is not the only god (even if he is king of the gods). The gods seem to have just as many quarrels and disagreements among themselves as men do on Earth -- a point Zeus knows quite well. That is the reason he presides over…

Plato's Symposium is one of the most widely read of his dialogues. It is said to be a departure from the usual style because except for a brief portion, it is not written in dialectical style. Instead, a variety of speakers have the opportunity to present their view on the topic of love; when they are done, Socrates speaks (Pecorino). There has also been speculation that this dialogue was written by Plato to serve as "a form of brochure for his Academy in Athens" (Pecorino). This is one explanation for the difference in the format.
Apollodorus

The beginning pages are full of banter between Apollodorus and his Companion. Apollodorus has a tale to relate, but he prefaces it with a great deal of introductory information. This makes his Companion, who has grown impatient, say, "It is waste of time, Apollodorus, to wrangle about such matters now. Come, without more ado,…

Tourism takes a substantial place in the economy of Cyprus. Tourism has such an impact on Cyprus culture and daily life that the industry contributed 10.7% or US $5,445.0 mn of the GDP in 2006, allowing for job creation approximated at 113,000 jobs. (Micula and Micula) Thanks to consistent tourism, Cyprus has become the 40th most popular place to visit, inspiring almost 3 million tourists to come each year. Since 1975, Cyprus has been orld Tourism Organization full member and offers scenic views, high quality food, and ancient archaeological sites for any would-be traveler. (Micula and Micula) However, one thing makes Cyprus different from other destinations. That is the divide between Northern Cyprus and Southern Cyprus. This essay will detail how the difference in the north and south side contribute to tourism on the island and how it influences the busy tourism season and which activities promote more tourist engagement.…

Agamemnon claims that he loves Chryseis more than his own wife, but agrees to give her up as long as he gets another prize. hen he demands Briseis from Achilles, it is clear that one sexual being can simply be traded for another in Agamemnon's eyes. Indeed, when Achilles refuses to fight because of Agamemnon's demand, it is not because Achilles deeply loves Briseis, but because he is insulted with Agamemnon's demand. The only redeeming treatment of women in the epic is the Chryses' love for his daughter, determination in getting her back again, and excitement when his request is fulfilled.
hen compared to the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad often seems muted in references to women's sexuality, but it can be argued that the contents of this epic poem show women in a far worse place in society than women in Gilgamesh's epic. hile Gilgamesh's epic presents women as…

Interestingly, Venus is a goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, which is significant, since she was literally created from the male genitalia, and males were more strongly linked to sexuality than females, even at that point in oman history. In the rest of oman and Greek mythology, Venus/Aphrodite generally plays a benevolent role, though she does use influence women to use their sexuality in inappropriate ways, such as the willful seduction of one's own father.
Botticelli's painting captures all of the prettier elements of the birth of Venus without referencing the uglier parts of the myth. There are no castrated gods or vengeful sons in the painting, merely a beautiful, naked woman emerging from the sea, standing grown in a sea shell. The sea shell symbolized the vulva in art of that time period. Moreover, Venus was a frequent non-religious subject of paintings, because it was considered acceptable to depict…

Hesiod's Theogony
Male and Female Relationships in Hesiod's Theogony

One of the most interesting and complex facets of Greek mythology is how it portrays the relationship between the sexes. At first glance, the celebration of Zeus and his relationships with multiple women, mortal and immortal, appears to celebrate the male and portray women as subjugated vessels, good for little more than bearing and raising children. Furthermore, complicating the issues of sexism and sexuality is the fact that mythology portrays relationships between humans and non-humans, adding another dimension of power and inequality. However, delving below the surface of Greek myths, one finds a reverence for the feminine, which belies the apparent sexism and misogyny that one encounters on the surface of most myths. Nowhere is this interaction between the male-female dynamic and the human-divine dynamic more fascinating than in Hesiod's Theogony.

The first substantive mention of the feminine in Theogony centers…

role of deities in "The Iliad," by Homer, the poetry of Sappho, and "Pericles Funeral Oration," by Thucydides. Specifically it will discuss how significant the deities are in the three pieces, and why deities played such an important part in ancient literature.
IMPORTANCE of the DEITIES

The Gods (deities) play an extremely important part throughout these three pieces, and through much of ancient literature. The gods were extremely important to the Greeks, who believed they lived atop Mount Olympus, ruled by Zeus, the father and leader of the Gods. In "The Iliad," Achilles often turns to the Gods to aid him in battle and in his personal life. People believed the Gods could influence everything in their lives, and so often asked them for help and advice, as Achilles does. "I came to see if I could check this temper of yours, / Sent from heaven by the white-armed goddess…

Trojan Wars and Culture
The three epic stories namely, The Iliad, the Trojan Women, Pericle's Funeral Oration are powerfully written master pieces of work, that illustrate the element of horridness of war beautifully.

The Iliad

The story of Homer's Iliad focuses on the "rage of Achilles." eading this epic poem makes one believe that it is based entirely on the totality and gruesomeness of war. However, it tells us about the details of war with full description and information. Though war is an important aspect of the tale, but the real story is based on the remarkable fighter and hero-that man is none other than Achilles.

Achilles possesses the greatest military expertise of any of the Achaean ranks and also the greatest fighting ability out of all of the warriors, Trojan or Achaean. At the beginning of the epic, Achilles becomes liberated from his fellow warriors and retreats back to…

Art through the Ages 1. (Ch. 27) What is the interpretation of Goya's Saturn Devouring his Children?
The interpretation of Goya’s Saturn Devouring his Children is based on the myth of Saturn who feared that his children would overthrow him, so he devoured them one by one to avoid that risk. Goya lived many centuries after this ancient myth of antiquity originated. However, his own contemporary situation reflected the old myth in terms of the way the powerful rulers of the time were frantically lashing out, trying to preserve their own power by destroying the least possible threat. The wild-eyed and frenzied look of Saturn in Goya’s painting, produced between the years of 1819 and 1823, reflects what was happening in his own time. The effects of the French Revolution had spread throughout Europe and Spain had gotten to enjoy the Napoleon’s conquests. Goya’s painting reflected the insane frenzy for…

However, even though their paintings, carvings and sculptures probably served a more functional purpose than otherwise, this does not mean that they didn't want to add aesthetic value to those things. In the case of this funerary sculpture, however, there is very little aesthetic value added to it, which makes one think that its purpose was purely functional and that it served a very specific purpose.
Eros, on the other hand, made out of terracotta was most likely created for a different usage than that of Osiris. Muratov (2011) states that terracotta figurines in Ancient Greece were used in houses as decorations or they sometimes served as "cult images in small house shrines; some of them functioned as charms to ward off evil." Sometimes they were brought to temples and were given as offerings to the gods, but sometimes they were put on graves as "cherished possessions of the deceased,…

Financial Resources Performance
The Managing Director,

King Edwards Electronics,

Manchester, U.K.

INTERNAL REPORT. FIXING RISK, UNCERTAINTY AND CASH FLOW DISCREPANCIES

Dear Sir,

In making investment decisions we are dealing with; and actually shaping; the firm's future, but the future is not certain and investment decisions, whether personal or corporate, are invariably undertaken with imperfect knowledge about the future. The future may turn out to be better or worse than expected. For the corporate firm, the objective of an investment decision is to allocate resources only to those projects which will preferably increase, or at least maintain, the firm's value and the wealth of its shareholders. Clearly it would not make good financial sense to invest in projects which would reduce corporate value (Ang, 2002).

The problem for managers is that at the outset it is often difficult to determine which of the firm's potential investment projects will enhance corporate value…

For Paris was essentially a shepherd, and had only recently returned to Troy, thus, he had no military skills (Judgement pp).
Another way the movie made Paris a hero of sorts, is that he is portrayed as the one who tells his father King Priam to be cautious about the horse. hen actually, according to legend, it was his sister Cassandra, a priestess of psychic powers, knew the horse was deceptive and tried to warn her father, but he would not listen (Judgement pp). Then the priest, Laocoon, also tried to warn the Priam to beware of Greeks bearing gifts, yet he too was ignored (Judgement pp).

Another part of the legend that the movie left out was Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, to the goddess Artemis, in order to obtain favorable winds for the voyage to Troy (Judgement pp). And according to legend, the gods were basically the…

Achilles a Sympathetic Character
Achilles, the grandson of Aeacus was regarded as the greatest and primal character in Homer's Iliad, the ancient epic of Greek mythology. Even though Achilles is the central character of the epic, he is considered to be an unsympathetic character. Achilles was the son of the king of Meymidouns in Phthia, Pelues, and sea nymph Thetis. As the legend goes, Achilles made invincible by his mother Thetis by dipping him in the river Styx, however, ignored to wet his heel she held him by and made him vulnerable to be killed by a blow to that heel. (Achilles [Categories: LGBT mythology, People who fought in the Trojan ar]) Homer's Iliad, develops around the Trojan ar that spans for ten years between Greeks and the Trojans. Illiad depicts the involvement of gods and goddesses in the lives of mortal beings. (Troy Movie Review: arner Bros. Troy vs.…

Robert Johnson's 1989 book She explores the nature of the female psyche through a Jungian exploration of myth and archetype. orking with the premise that classical myths retain a timeless, universal nature that makes them equally applicable to modern society, Johnson creates an engaging pop-psychology perspective. Although the author occasionally makes blanket generalizations about masculinity and femininity, the overarching principles outlined by Johnson are worthy of study, analysis, and application. She is a short book, easily accessible to the layperson. The author focuses on the Greek myth of Psyche and Eros as the foundation of She, illustrating how this tale teaches valuable lessons about spiritual growth and psychological development. On the surface, Johnson's work can be viewed as anti-feminist in nature and completely irrelevant for women in modern cultures. However, the author repeatedly emphasizes that the archetypal male and female elements elucidated by myth do not directly refer to biological…

Mythology
Tales of love begin with the creation of humans, and continue to the graphic media driven "reality TV" shows that televise the private lives of the bachelor and bachelorette and all the people competing for their love. Love is a feeling everyone can relate to, but it is unlikely most people would claim to understand love. ithin almost every literary genre there are myths about love that fuel ideals that are rarely if ever realized. There is no place where this is truer than in the stories of mythology.

The perpetual love myths that exist in classical mythology demonstrate ideals that are confronted even today by individuals searching for love today. The ideals of love that will be explored in this work are: love at first sight, the myth of one true love and the human phenomenon of over idealizing unobtainable love. The stories of classical mythology charter the…

In his last moments, Hektor realizes he can never persuade Achilles because "in his breast is a heart of iron" (XXII.357). Achilles reveals his cold nature when he says, "Die: and I will take my own death at whatever time" (XXII.364) moments after Hektor dies. Again, we see the stark contrast between these two heroes.
Achilles is another face Homer attaches to the notion of war and kleos. Achilles is noble and popular for his "swift feet" (I.148). he is swift on his feet and he is swift to anger and this anger will surface to be the one thing that plagues him through The Iliad. It drives him through most of the plot and it is the bane of his existence. However, this flaw does not prevent Achilles from seeking glory or reaching fame. He experiences a different kind of kleos than Hektor does primarily because he becomes an…

This mythical structure has a long history in terms of mythical and visionary experience in all cultures of the world. One could also refer to the earliest Shamanic forms of religion and the myth of the dismembered Shaman who is also the transformed healer of others. In these myths the journey to the underworld, and the process of the destruction of the old self or ego does not result in final death but in transformation and greater insight into reality.
Therefore, taking the above brief sketch of the significance of this mythical structure into account we can apply it to a Jungian analysis of the ego.

When Inanna descends to the Underworld she divests herself of her previous life and this is symbolized by the way that she throws off the accouterments and symbols of her previous existence. When she enters the realm of the dead she can only do…

10).
oth religions are not technically held to be systems of belief by their adherents, but rather as systems of service or patronage to higher powers. The idea was present in African feudalism, but seems to be enhanced and highlighted in Creole religions by the slave experience. Seeking for a path away from the rule of cruel Europeans, African slaves turned to the rule of benevolent and helpful Orishas and Loas. Practitioners serve the demi-gods, and the demi-gods in turn serve the practitioners. The relationship between god and man is mainly business, although love and respect are also required. However, no true worship -- as a westerner would understand it -- is required; instead the Orishas and Loas are propitiated by sacrifices, and communicate their assistance mainly by oracles. In both Vodou and Santeria each Orisha or Loa is associated with a certain constellation of symbols, fetishes, sacrifices, and drum-rhythms…

This image has lasted for nearly three thousand years but may now be in need of renewal. "God" may be longing for release from His immolation in the structure of our beliefs. To use a gardening metaphor, God has become pot-bound, fixed and constricted by the anthropomorphic, gender-biased, paternalistic image that we have projected onto Him. As Teilhard de Chardin suggested, we need to formulate a new image of God that is related to the phenomenal discoveries science has made about the new dimensions of the universe.
What have we done to God? The old image we have inherited from the Iron Age portrays God creating the Earth from a distance; God as something transcendent to, different from, creation and ourselves; God as male; God as fearful Judge, God as both punishing and loving Father. We have divided life into two - spirit and nature - and have lost the…

In contrast, the exterior was almost undecorated" (25). Another significant church that was built contemporaneously with the Hagia Sophia was the cruciform Church of the Holy Apostles (536-546), which featured five domes (Nickel).
Figure 3. Cross-domed church. Most important type of ground-plan of the Middle Byzantine period. In addition to the central dome, more elaborate examples have domes over the corner chapels -- quincunx. From the tenth century onwards, the cross-domed church becomes widespread throughout Bulgaria. In Russia it develops into the dominant church type of the Middle Ages, the cruciform domed church. (Church of Theofokos, Monastery of Hosios Lukas, Greece, tenth century)

Source: Nickel 25

Constantine clearly set the architectural bar very high, and Christian architects would be hard pressed to match the Hagia Sophia in terms of size, organization and decorations, but the structure was clearly a model for future efforts. In this regard, Nickel reports that, "Compared…

This is a clear and explicit statement of the gods' selfishness, and in the context of the story of Zeus' in particular. There is no other reason provided for his desire to keep fire away from humanity; it is not out of a prudent and paternal fear of fire's destructive powers, nor because of something divine in the very essence of fire that is not to be sullied by human hands, but merely because it is part of the "stuff of life," and the gods do not feel like sharing. It is one more way in which Zeus can feel superior to man, and though this type of petty selfishness might not be very becoming to the king of gods in the Greek pantheon, maker of thunder and lover of swans, it is certainly appropriate for a villain.
So, too, is the ingenuity with which Zeus goes about punishing mankind…

Another work of art using nudes was dated as having been created by the end of the Hellenistic period is that of Laocoon Group. The sculpture was inspired by a legend and it is the depiction of the epic fight between Laoccon, his sons and the snakes. The admiration for the beauty of the human body that can be seen from the sculptures created during the Hellenistic period reflects the attitude the Greeks had toward its reflection in art. Compared to their predecessors, the Greeks appear to be the first to acknowledge the artistic values of the human body, in its bare form. Kenneth Clark even wrote that "the nude is an art form invented by the Greeks in the fifth century" () Naked children are often depicted in the works of ancient Greeks and one of the examples is a Roman reproduction of a boy strangling a goose. The…

Indeed, they are both supporter of Communism and here we are already talking about the mature period of Communist in its fight against the Imperialists (certainly, these are the same imperialists that would have paid Rivera for painting Rockefeller Centre) and the meeting between the couple and Trotsky is defining for the late phase of their relationship.
Artistic practices and values

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath and Frida and Diego are extremely relevant for this category. First of all, Frida and Diego are members of the artistic community of Mexico and not only (and we are referring here to their presence in France during a time of artistic effervescence, as well as to their trip in the United States), this is the community that influences them and from where they draw their identity as artists. Additionally, it is their art that pulls them together each time the fall apart on…

Indeed, when Alcibiades arrives, we are reminded that love is quite extraordinary, and even Diotima suggests this to her pupil: "For love, Socrates, is not, as you imagine, the love of the beautiful only." "hat then?" "The love of generation and of birth in beauty." "Yes," I said. "Yes, indeed," she replied. "But why of generation?" "Because to the mortal creature, generation is a sort of eternity and immortality" (210). Love, in other words, is necessarily related to the eternal because only that which lasts forever can be said to be truly good. Each action that relates to eternity is good because it is directed toward the ultimate possession of the good. Socrates proceeds to bring his discourse to its proper closure and just then is when a very drunk Alcibiades arrives, reminding us all of how human we all are in relation to the divine and eternal.
Thus, in…

Deborah is believed to have played a key role in public arena.
Even in the male dominant society of Israel, Deborah's orders were followed and people looked up to her for advice. In the position of a prophetess, she could give orders which were readily followed: "She sent for Barak...and said to him, 'The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: "Go, take with you ten thousand men..."" Barak was not willing to go alone and wanted Deborah to accompany him. Deborah is an important figure in ancient Hebrew culture and it is through her that we can see how this culture allowed women to have some freedom in their restricted sphere.

The daughter of Jephthah was another prominent figure. She was also a judge who ruled Israel as she was a woman of strong faith. After her father promised Lord that if he won, he would offer "whatever comes…

Lawrence often compares the mechanistic world of industrialize Britain with the world of nature, and the fecundity and sexuality of the natural world is seen as distorted by the mechanistic world that has developed in this century. In such a comparison, Clifford is on the side of the industrial world, while Connie comes out on the side of the natural world. Yet, this is not what society wants women to be, and yet it is also the reason women were so restricted by society, because they were viewed as dangerous threats to the natural order because of their inherent sexuality.
In Lawrence's conception, living according to nature precludes the possibility of sin, though society may see the issue in a different light. hile one could apply this idea to Hester and Tess as well, their authors clearly do not view the issue in that way, though they do find their…

Many have seen her as Aeneas's counterpart, as she herself has led her people from Tyre to Carthage in an attempt to escape environmental vicissitudes. Like Aeneas, she is a true leader, a strong willed character and independent woman. Juno and Venus (the Roman counterparts of Hera and Aphrodite) manipulate them and Dido is soon seen infatuated with Aeneas, neglecting all ruling duties. She cannot change destiny and realizes this in ook IV, as she points out that "What am I saying? Where am I? What madness / Takes me out of myself? Dido poor soul, / Your evil doing has come home to you." According to ancient traditions, for a strong character such as Dido, the only possible ending is by suicide.
A comparison between Dido and Helen, both in terms of the influence they have on men and on their power to change courses in history and determine…

Ancient Art / Comparing Two Works
Two ancient works of art were viewed for discussion in this paper. The first is called "Vessel Terminating in the Forepart of a Stag" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The second is an Etruscan engraved mirror, which can be viewed at the Louvre. Although the objects are from different time periods and cultures and depict different images, they have in common the fact that they are both utilitarian objects made beautiful with adornment.

The stag vessel [http://www.metmuseum.org / Collections/search-the-collections/30006086] was discovered in Central Anatolia (a region of Turkey) and is attributed to the Hittite Empire, circa the 14th -- 13th centuries BCE. It is a drinking vessel made of silver with gold inlay. It is a representational piece that stands eighteen centimeters tall. According to the Museum's website, the stag's front legs and torso, which opens into a cup, was hammered from a…

Estruscans refers to a sophisticated and seafaring persons from Asia Minor who appeared in Italy about 800 BC settling in Etruia, North of Latium. This group soon gained control of the Latins thus the introduction of the Greek cultur to the more primitive Romans. The influence was vital in the domination of the Roman interaction and way of life for two critical centuries. The group was also great at business transactions thus the opportunity to utilize its interactions while trading with other entities or culture in the form of maritime system. They also contributed towards the development of sewer systems, construction of the temples, and paved streets hence realization of the rapid development of the society. Estruscan were vital in teaching the Romans how to work in pottery, metal, and leather industry. They also participated in the development of crafted weapons, and furniture as well as implementation of the alphabet…

Plato's Symposium
In order to answer the question of what 'love' means to Plato/Socrates in the Symposium, the most important aspect is to explain how the other participants define it before Socrates weighs in with his more philosophical and spiritual explanation. All of these participants are wealthy, privileged young men from the aristocratic class, except of course for Socrates who comes from the artisan class. They are arrogant, shallow, and narcissistic, and mainly in love with themselves, and also define love as Eros or erotic, physical and sexual experiences, and of course love of money, fame and physical beauty. Sometimes they also realize that philos or friendship can also be a form of love, with which Socrates certainly agrees, although he then carries it to the higher level of agape or universal and God-like benevolence, understanding and virtue. Instead of democracy, they would prefer Athens to be governed by an…

Birth Problems: Expecting Mothers Taking Illicit Drugs
When women who are pregnant struggle with a drug problem, the drug use does not only affect the mother, it greatly affects the development of the fetus (Ornoy, 2002). This does not only stop during the fetal stage, it goes on until to after the child is born, and the child will then develop a number of physical and health problems during his or her lifetime. This is because the drugs which the mother is taking can cross the placenta, which is where the baby is and gets all his or her nourishments. These drugs can cause direct toxic affects to the fetus during the developmental stages.

A mother who is actively taking illicit drugs during her pregnancy can suffer from a number of high risk diseases, and this will contract to her unborn baby. These risks include: (1) Anemia, (2) Skin infections,…

God:
Review of Karen Armstrong's "History of God"

The History of God" by Karen Armstrong reads more like a quest for God amongst the annals of Man's history. It relates the transition of the nature of God as perceived by His human subjects, catering to the ideological differences amongst followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. y highlighting the influences that led Armstrong to embark on this quest for illumination as well as providing a summary of the book, this paper endeavours to explore the central theme that the definition of God is subject to conventionality. It is continuously being modified, abandoned, revived and reiterated in accordance with Man's realistic and pragmatic challenges as opposed to philosophical reverie.

efore providing an analysis of the book's core theme, it is necessary to study the influences that drove Armstrong to write this book. Armstrong's interest in religion was cultivated at an early age,…

Thematic Comparison: Divine Intervention in Homer & Virgil
Both works decently portray the horrors of warfare, and (albeit it in a reverent fashion) place the blame for this horror soundly at the feet of the gods. However while in Homer this intervention is largely capricious and relatively unmotivated, in Virgil's work it takes on a more motivated and historical turn in which the gods may actually be seen as working to some form of higher end.

Part of the difference between these two takes on divine interference relates to the purpose of the two works. Homer's epic, so far as can be told, was designed to educate and amuse and perhaps to make a statement about the meaning of warfare and deity. However, it was not designed so much to create a national myth of identity. The Greeks and the Trojans they faced were more or less of the same…

Carl Orff a German composer, was born in Munich, Germany on July 10, 1895. Munich had been the place where Orff grew up and where his life had been shaped. The childhood days of Orff brought him a lot of memories that he used later as inspirations for his works and compositions.
Carl Orff started to develop his talent in music at the age of 5. He received his first piano, organ, and cello lessons in 1900. At the age of 16, he had already composed almost 50 songs using the text of classical authors such as Heinrich Heine and Friedrich Hoelderlin (www.dhm.de).When he was at the age of 19, Orff served in First World War for a short period of time

Carl Orff's genius in music was nourished and developed into a master's art at the Academy for the Musical Arts, a music school in Munich where Orff studied.…

Marriage in Greek Myth
efore we discuss the depictions of marriage in the Theogony, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and the Odyssey, perhaps we should first discuss the real- life ancient Greek marriage rituals and reveal their attitude towards marriage.

Indeed, many of the things we see in Greek myths happened in real life as well. For example, the Greek girls usually married quite young, around the age of 14, which was meant to ensure that the girl was a virgin and pure in mind and body. "Marriage to a family member was an acceptable alternative and occasionally encouraged in order to consolidate family wealth"- if we look at many of the marriages between gods (taking only this example), we will notice that many of them were affiliated. Remember, for example, that almost all of the Olympian Gods were in some way related, most of them being brothers and sisters,…

Getty Museum
Before making plans to personally visit the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, I spent an hour or so researching the museum, Mr. Getty, and some of the issues that this richest of all art museums had recently faced. The assignment calls for finding out what is available to see, and I also found out what was not available to see. One important statue that I would have liked to have viewed was the ancient Greek "goddess of love," Aphrodite, that that iconic statue had been repatriated back to Italy in 2011. My research also showed that the trend for museums that have antiquities on display is to return those art pieces to their rightful countries, if they were purchased from dealers who either stole them or bought them from thieves. In fact the Getty Museum has given back 47 pieces in the last few years (the…

Seneca's Phaedra:
[609] Mother -- that name is too proud and high; a humbler name better suits my feelings. Call me sister, Hippolytus, or slave -- yes, slave is better; I will endure servitude. Shouldst thou bid me walk through deep-drifted snows, I would not shrink from faring along the cold peaks of Pindus; shouldst thou send me through fire and midst deadly battle ranks, I would not hesitate to offer my breast to naked swords. Take thou in my stead the sceptre committed to my care, accept me for thy slave; it becomes thee to bear sway, me, to obey thine orders. It is no woman's task to watch o'er royal cities. Do thou, in the vigour of thy youth's first bloom, rule o'er the citizens, strong in thy father's power; take to thine arms thy suppliant, and protect thy slave. Pity my widowhood -- Seneca's Phaedra tells the…

Paul dealt with the various issues of the Thessalonian church in both a practical and theoretical manner. He chose to deal with grief and loss by enabling discussion and explanation of the Second Coming and the concept of resurrection. He provided comfort and guidance to his members, a social aspect of associations and clubs often witnessed within their cities. In addition, he preached a ministry of pleasing God to prepare for the day when Christ returns.
Greek city life often involved clubs and associations. This meant most Greeks participated in social clubs and activities. Paul operated within a club or association context. He knew this was a practical way to appeal to the Thessalonians as clubs and associations allowed members to participate, created a sense of community, and even covered funeral expenses. Paul also knew the omans would not view the synagogue as a threat if it were seen as…

Greek sculptures, 'Veiled and Masked Dancer' and 'Hermes and the Infant Dionysos' dating back to the art periods, and their connection to the realm of spirituality.
Is art linked to spirituality in any special way? One might find a number of reasons to answer in the affirmative; there, indeed, appears to be some sort of profuse series of links among the two. Art has always occupied a central position in religion. In religious rituals and houses of worship, one can witness sacred dances, sacred symbols, hymns, sacred pictures, tunes, and chants; these art forms have also been utilized as meditation and prayer aids by all religions. The above examples of art in religion alone make the former discipline appear to be intrinsic to connecting with or expressing the divine (Art and Spirituality 1). eligious art represents a superior art form in both Western medieval Christianity and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Buddhists…

preliminary analysis of a piece of art titled "The Birth of Venus." "
Description

Artist: Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)

Genre: history painting; Mythological

Medium: Tempera on canvas

Movement: art of the Early enaissance

Location: Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

The Birth of Venus Analysis

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli is an ingenious piece of art. It remains a great piece of art after 500 years since its creation. It is still one of the highest prized art masterpieces of all time. The difficulty in interpreting its meaning is, perhaps one of the reasons why the piece of art has been a subject of discussion among many analysts of works of art. The painting is a portrayal of a nude and relatively large female standing gracefully on a wide and big seashell. The female seems to show up on land, coming from the sea (The Birth of Venus). To the left…

Introduction The roles, ideals, views of men in the ancient civilization have been explored extensively in literature from the famous Kings of Israel to the mathematicians and philosophers of Greece. In contrast, the history entails limited literature of women in the ancient civilization. However, several masterpieces such as the Homeric poem, the Odyssey and the Iliad provides a glimpse of ideals, position, and role of women in the ancient civilization. Women play a fundamental role in life by taking multiple responsibilities as portrayed in the epic poem Odyssey. The epic poem presents the role of women in the facet of power, sexuality, and interaction with men.
An analysis of the women in the poem demonstrates a challenge of the space of women as traditionally defined by the patriarchal Greek society. The Homeric poem has a distinct feminist message of the struggle women endure as they try to extricate themselves from…

The imagery she uses also reflects the pain that she experiences as she envisions the murder about to take place and the fact that she too will killed: she speaks of Clytemnestra as a lion: "Vengeance broodeth still, a lion's rage, which goes not forth to kill / But lurketh in his lair, watching the high hall…" Then she speaks of her as a wolf and as a serpent. The imagery is repeatedly of deadly animals, culminating in this terrible prophecy: "Some Skylla, deep / Housed in the rock, where sailors shriek and die, / Mother of Hell blood-raging, which doth cry / On her own flesh war, war without alloy…" Cassandra equates the revenge that Clytemnestra seeks with the revenge that the Greeks sought against Paris at Troy. War follows war -- even when peace is supposed and expected.

The narrative voice of Agamemnon is undisturbed by Cassandra's prophecy…

For the most part women in the Odyssey are essentially one of three things: sexualized monsters, in the form of Circe, Calypso, the Sirens, and even Scylla; asexual helpers and servants, in the form of Athena and Eurycleia; and finally, seemingly helpless damsels, in the form of Penelope. To this one may add what is essentially the lowest of the low class within the poem, those women who are sexually liberated but who do not even have supernatural power to defend their desire for sexual autonomy, namely, Penelope's maids. Circe and Calypso both express sexual desire, but they are ultimately spared due to their status as goddesses, and thus they merely have to give up Odysseus. Penelope's maids have no such extra status, and thus in the hierarchy of power represent the lowest of the low, and receive punishment in return.

As a result, they are summarily executed for having…

Ethical Practice Involves Working Positively Diversity Difference
Counseling is a profession that involves associations based on principles and values ethically. Patients are able to benefit by understanding themselves better and through creating relationships with others. Through counseling, the clients are able to make positive alteration in life and enhance their living standards. Communities, organizations, couples and families are different groups of individuals are main sources of relationships (BACP Ethical Framework, 2013, p.4). Frameworks of ethical practice direct the attention of counseling practitioners to engage in ethical responsibilities. This stud describes the purpose of each principle following the development of good counseling practice. Practitioners make reasonable decisions grounded on these principles without making any contradictions. Nevertheless, research indicates that professionals have met barriers hindering them to integrate all the principles in some cases. In such situations, they are forced to select between required principles. A course of action or a decision…

Dark Age and the Archaic Age
Having watched the lectures for the prior learning unit on video, I was prepared to enjoy the video lecture presentation for this learning unit. I previously found the presentation of lectures in the video format to be very convenient because I could observe at my own pace, rewind if I missed part of the lecture, have flexibility about when I was viewing the lecture, and not be distracted by the behavior or questions of other students. I acknowledged that there were some negatives to the video-learning environment, such as missing out on the organic and natural question and answers that develop in a live classroom setting, but had decided that missing those was an acceptable trade-off given the other benefits that I was receiving from the video lecture environment. Therefore, I was surprised to find that I did not enjoy the video lectures for…